Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

After six straight days on the bike—two of which were Subaru Cup races and one of which was an Ozaukee Bicycle Club ride that might as well have been a race—today I took a rest day. But like all of my rest days this one was not completely devoid of cycling. Technically, I did ride a bike today, if only briefly and experimentally.

My son got a flat tire yesterday, so today he and I went step-by-step through the process of replacing the tube. Ryan rides my old Gary Fisher Wahoo, the bike that got me into cycling 10 years ago. It’s still a solid ride but Ryan doesn’t maintain it well. I think he understands now that his flat tire was almost certainly the result of a pinch flat, and he assures me that he will be more diligent about checking tire pressure from now on.

After fixing the flat I cleaned up the drivetrain and lubricated the cables. Then I decided to try something I had seen in an Internet video: turning an old tube into a chainstay protector. Here’s the result:

Not bad!

Ryan’s bike computer has been dead for a while and I don’t think the batteries were the issue. Buying a Garmin for myself earlier this year freed up two perfectly functional Cateye Micro Wireless computers, one of which now belongs to the Wahoo. The brief and experimental ride to which I referred above was a trip around the block to make sure the computer worked properly.

So, Ryan’s happy and I’m happy. His bike is better than before and I got play mechanic without spending any money or exposing one of my own bikes to my inexpert ministrations.